BOOK RETAILER OF THE YEAR SPONSORED BY: BONNIER PUBLISHING THE SHORTLIST


BLACKWELL’S Increased its sales in 2016 thanks to investment in infrastructure and attention to detail in promotions, service and store layouts.


THE GUTTER BOOKSHOP Winner of the Independent Bookshop of the Year Award; a hub for literary life in Dublin.


ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY Winner of the Non-Traditional Retailer of the Year Award; an ambitious and thoroughly professional bookseller with sales that go far beyond the gardening genre.


TALES ON MOON LANE Winner of the Children’s Bookseller of the Year Award; an outstanding example of a bookshop firing children’s interest in reading.


WINNER: WATERSTONES


The fortunes of the UK print book market have long been tied closely to the performance of Waterstones—so it was no coincidence they thrived together in 2016. It was a year in which Waterstones recorded a


profit for the first time since it flirted with bankruptcy in 2011–12, and in which it increased book sales for the second year in a row. At least as importantly, Waterstones completed its rehabilitation as a retailer of depth and quality, staffed by exceptional booksellers. Through its energetic and imaginative work on J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Waterstones proved it can still slug it out with supermarkets and online retailers on blockbuster releases—but its true worth was shown in the


KEY STRENGTHS


◆ INCREASED SALES AND RETURNED TO PROFITABILITY IN 2016 ◆ USED PROMOTIONS AND BOOKSELLER RECOMMENDATIONS TO CREATE UNLIKELY BESTSELLERS ◆ SUPERB MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS AND A MUCH-IMPROVED ONLINE OFFER ◆ VISIONARY LEADERSHIP AND REPOSITIONING UNDER JAMES DAUNT


15. BRITISH BOOK AWARDS - WINNERS 2017


bestsellers it created from scratch. Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent, Waterstones Book of the Year and championed by its booksellers from the outset, was a fine example of that. It was a transformative year behind the scenes too,


with investment in Waterstones’ infrastructure and store refits, a much sharper offering at Waterstones.com and the devolution of more autonomy to frontline booksellers. “Last year showed that publishers simply cannot


do without Waterstones,” judges said. “Its staff do a phenomenal job—they’re brilliant at taking books people haven’t heard of and turning them into something huge.” They also credited the contribution of managing director James Daunt.


Bonnier Publishing is the fastest-growing major publisher in the UK, with group sales of £128m. It has divisions in both Australia and the US with 525 employees worldwide. It is ultimately owned by Bonnier Books, a top-15 world publisher with global sales of £650m.


WH SMITH TRAVEL The winner of this award in 2015, it had another fine year, encouraging fresh talent and independent publishers as well as stoking big bestsellers.


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